Away
by punkydiva17
Summary: *Story Completed* iPod shuffle challenge. Songfic 4. Song is "Away" by Mercy Drive. Dave Batista reflects on the one Diva he can't have: Melina.


_**For lack thereof, I can't define**_

_**Is there another way?**_

_**I've had enough, I've paid the price**_

_**To keep the beast at bay**_

"The Animal" Dave Batista was a man that easily had a woman on his arm every night of the week. Starting wrestling a little later than most people would have started, he had reached pinnacle heights within his first three years in the company and to say that he didn't enjoy the attention that the women lavished upon him as a result was something of a lie.

He wasn't arrogant; he was just aware of the facts. The women loved everything about him; the tattoos, the caramel skin, the patch of facial hair making a slim line down his chin. The way he looked in a suit, the way he stood, silent, peering behind two toned sunglasses as people told him off. Even the tattoos, the ones on his arms, the dragon on his back, the Celtic looking sun around his belly button. He fascinated a lot of women, were the object of their desires. And most of the time, he was fine with living up to that reputation.

Sometimes he wondered if bouncing from woman to woman was something he was getting too old for. That one of these days, he was going to wake up, desperate, alone, wondering if one of the women had been the one and he had just passed her by. It was a thought that kind of scared him.

_**Feel the undertow of the words unspoken**_

_**Hear them wander from the masses broken**_

Melina was worried about Dave. He had been different lately, more contemplative. Sure, their time had passed with their relationship, and it had struck her at the beginning, but now she was fine with being his friend. She always gave him advice and watched him bounce from relationship after relationship with woman after woman. Melina would have been lying if she said she didn't feel jealous when Dave talked about or paraded woman after woman in front of her. It drove her crazy to see these women with ulterior motives. She could pick them out from a mile away, but Dave always failed to see it. And she knew better than to say anything to Dave. He was stubborn. He was the kind of guy who wouldn't admit to having an accident if he was bleeding to death.

She was still in love with him. She still loved her ex too. But he had moved on and she was legitimately happy for him. She only wished Dave could get his head straight. His reputation as a womanizer was hurting him in the locker room.

_**You have my sympathy**_

_**Now take it away**_

Dave spotted Melina talking to Mickie James in the backstage area. She looked phenomenal, as usual, dressed in a black pleated miniskirt and a red tank top, her hair piled high atop her head, her feet adorned with knee-high black boots that zipped up on her inner leg. Even though it had been months since the two of them had broken up, stating that it would be better for everyone involved that they be apart, he still thought of her at least four times a day. She was usually the last thing on his brain at the end of the day and the first thing when he woke up.

He always wondered if it was the right decision to break up. But she was focused so much on what she was doing, and the honest truth was that he wasn't ready to grow up all that much. It seemed like a funny thought for a man with two kids and grandchildren. But he was honest. He had so much growing up to do.

He thought about approaching her. She looked beautiful. There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much she wanted to say. But he didn't have the guts to tell her. He found that thought kind of ironic; the big, bad, heroic wrestler, the Animal Dave Batista, afraid to talk to a woman like Melina.

_**Unleash the whores, unlock the doors**_

_**Wash it off my skin**_

_**Let's break the glass containing past**_

_**Don't look back again**_

Melina didn't need a sixth sense to know that the eyes burning into the back of her head's were Dave's, but she continued to talk to Mickie without acknowledging him. This was what he wanted; just to cool off around the backstage area. She heard he was dating some big breasted model from Miami anyways. It hurt her to hear that, but the honest truth was that she was doing her damnedest to hide it.

She knew better than to get involved with a womanizer. It would only leave her heartbroken in the end. Disillusioned with the men around her. She wondered if she would ever find her Mr. Right. Johnny had been close, but just not that close. He was still a wonderful guy. And she still had nothing but positive things to say about him. But nothing had worked out.

It was just the way life went.

_**Feel the undertow of words unspoken**_

_**Hear them wander from the masses broken**_

Dave Batista sighed, opening a bottle of water. He couldn't talk to her. No matter how tempted he was to run to her and ask her to be with him, he knew it was unrealistic and unfair. He couldn't play with her emotions like that. He had said that they had needed to cool off, to just avoid each other backstage. She had cried; she had been devastated, but he felt it was the best for both their careers to not have to worry about the whispers and the probing questions from the men and the women in the backstage area.

He knew Melina could feel his gaze on her. He could see it in the way her body involuntarily tensed, the way she became more aware of her actions. But he was also quick to observe that she was going out of her way not to acknowledge him. And it killed him. But this was what he wanted, and he needed to remember that. He couldn't go out of his way to make Melina feel terrible for giving him waht he wanted.

But the real question was, did he really want it?

_**You have my sympathy**_

_**Come on take it away**_

_**Come on take it away now**_

He thought about approaching her. To be close enough to smell the scent of her perfume. To closely admire her legs, her eyes, the smile that spread across her features when he said something sweet or funny. He knew it wasn't right; he was dating Allison. However, one look at Melina and the thoughts of his model girlfriend just disappeared. She was down to earth and she was sweet, and she was everything that he had hoped to find in his two marriages and it had eluded him. So many people saw her on TV as the bitch, the vixen, the villain. Nobody saw what he saw, and he wished more people did. Then she wouldn't be heckled so much.

She took a sip from her water bottle and he was working so hard to work up the courage to speak to her. She was starting to get a little hostile, disillusioned with him for how he treated her when he was out in public; like she never existed. It was hard on him, but he knew it was harder on her and he knew better than to throw the hurt in her face.

He stood to approach her, but Jillian and Beth joined the girls and led Melina away. He sighed.

Another missed chance. Taken away.

_**Come on take it away**_

_**Take it away now**_


End file.
